Wigan, Lancashire

In the early eighteenth century Wigan was a small market town on the river Douglas, halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. A century later, Wigan became a significant mill-town, connected to the coalfields and the ports first by canal and then by railway. Mid- to late-nineteenth century population growth owed much to Irish immigration. Immortalised as an industrial town by George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), the town was badly affected by the decline of the cotton and coal industries after the Second World War.

Methodism

Methodism was introduced to Wigan by John Leyland, a cobbler, and William Langshaw, who attended Methodist preaching in Liverpool, Manchester and Bolton. Travelling nearby in 1759, John Wesley described Wigan as "a town wicked to a proverb", and was equally uncomplimentary when he first came to the town in July 1764. He made a further seventeen visits. More significant to the growth of Methodism in Wigan was the preaching of Samuel Bradburn, sent from Liverpool in 1774. Bradburn's powerful oratory gathered a congregation and inspired promises of funds for a chapel, and a chapel was duly opened in Wallgate in 1775. Wesley preached at this "New House" in June 1776.

In the controversies after Wesley's death, most of the Wigan society turned to the New Connexion. The Wesleyans rebuilt their society and opened a new chapel in Standishgate in 1844-45, adding a day school in the latter year. In 1856, however, further disputes within the Wesleyan Connexion led to the secession of 300 scholars and teachers to the United Methodist Free Churches (1856). Meanwhile the Independent Methodists built a school chapel in Greenough Street in 1829 and established a Bookroom in Wigan in 1869. Since 1990 the Connexion's Resource Centre, headquarters and archive centre have been located in Wigan.

The Primitive Methodists missioned Wigan in the 1830s and built chapels in 1851 and 1897.

There was also a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist presence in Wigan, recorded in 1851, and with a chapel in Greenough Street from 1913-64.

Late-nineteenth century expansion saw new chapels in Standish, Blackrod, Appley Bridge, Hindley and Platt Bridge, while a mission in Scholes grew into the Queen's Hall, opened in 1907. Changing demographics led to the closure of the Standishgate chapel in 1969 and a move to a new building in Spencer Road, Whitley (1969-71).

Sources
  • Charles Deane Little, Our Old Sunday School (and Day School): 150 years of Wigan Methodism (Wigan: E. Sidebotham, 1933).
  • H.E. Thomas, Two Hundred Years of Methodism in Wigan (Wigan, 1976).
  • John Dolan, The Independent Methodists: A History (Cambridge: James Clarke, 2005).
  • E.A. Rose, 'The First Methodist New Connexion Chapels', Proceedings of the WHS, vol. 36, page 14.
  • J. Peet, 'Chapel Opening at Wigan', PM Magazine, 1852, pages 313015.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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